SPORTS
Lady Rabbits win opening game against Archer City
The Bowie Lady Rabbits kicked off their season on the road Monday night at Archer City.
The Lady Rabbits made quick work of the Lady Cats, winning in straight sets with the scores 25-19, 25-14, 25-21.
Bowie was coming into the match in good shape this year with a full week of practice on top of two different scrimmages thanks to how the schedule worked out. The team returns all but two players and features mostly upper classmen with several years of varsity experience, but the biggest change comes on the sideline. Ashley Sanders is the third coach in program history.
Despite many of the same players, there was some lineup shuffling to do. With one of if not the best libero in program history graduated, senior BJ Mills is stepping into the role after playing all the way around last year as an outside hitter.
Last year’s team opened its season against Archer City as well and it took a comeback to win a tight match in five sets. This year’s match was much less dramatic.
Bowie took the early lead and never trailed in the first set. Up 12-8 after 20 points, the Lady Rabbits went 7-3 over the next 10 points to run away with the match.
Up 22-13, the team got a bit sloppy down the stretch, allowing the Lady Cats to win six of the last nine points. Still, it only made the final set score not as bad as most of the set was as Bowie won 25-19 to go up 1-0.
The second set started a bit more competitively. After the first 10 points, the score was tied 5-5. After that, it was all the Lady Rabbits again.
Bowie went on a 13-2 run to build a double-digit lead at one point 18-7. The final points were played even as Bowie won easily 25-14 to take a decisive 2-0 lead.
The third set ended up being the most competitive from beginning to end despite the Lady Rabbits never trailing. Bowie led 7-3 after 10 points and 12-8 after 20 points and 16-14 after 30.
The Lady Rabbits led for most of the set, but there was never that point like in the first two where they went on a big run.
Archer City played more solid, Bowie racked up several hitting errors and struggled more with serve-receive that prevented the team from fully getting going.
The Lady Rabbits led 21-19 heading into the final points few points of the set and match. From there, the Bowie team was able to win four of the next six points to close things out, winning the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story and see more pictures from the game, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Lady Indians beat Saint Jo at home on Saturday morning.
The Lady Indians won 16-1 after four innings due to run-rule against the smaller school.
Nocona was coming off a competitive loss at Collinsville earlier in the week while the Lady Panthers were hoping to compete after a busy week of their athletes doing everything else besides just softball.
The Lady Indians easily won the first matchup between the teams in March, 19-2 and it was more of the same on Saturday.
Saint Jo struck first to start the game off well. Jordyn O’Neal hit a one out single. Krista Reeves followed with a walk after O’Neal had stolen second base and had advanced to third thanks to an error trying to throw her out. A wild pitch then allowed her to score to put the Lady Panthers up 1-0.
The lead did not last long. Nocona’s first two batters drew walks which set up Abby Hill to drive them both in with a single to right field.
Despite giving up a single and a walk later in the inning, Saint Jo’s defense did not allow another run. A line out and groundout to the shortstop while picking off a runner attempting to steal got the Lady Panthers out of the inning unscarred.
The Lady Indians led 2-1.
That was about as competitive as it got. In the second inning, Nocona’s bats got going. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases up with no outs.
Reagan Phipps drew a walk that drove in a run. Hill hit another two RBI single. Skye Kirby followed with a two RBI double.
After the first out, Allie Sutton drove in one run with a single. There was a fly out for out two, before a runner came in to score after a passed ball. Finally, an error allowed two more runs to score on the base paths.
Nocona had scored nine runs and led 11-1 to break the game open heading into the third inning.
Taylor Patrick hit a double, with O’Neal and Reeves following with singles. Unfortunately for Saint Jo, Patrick was thrown out before the hits attempting to steal a base so the Lady Panthers scored no runs from this.
The Lady Indians kept pouring on the runs. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases up with no outs. Tinley Cable then hit an RBI single. Shelby Swell was hit by a pitch that drove in another run.
After two strikeouts, Evelyn Marquez drove in two more runs on a double to put Nocona up 15-1, coming up one run short of ending the game early.
The Lady Indians scored that one run in the fourth inning. After Phipps drew a leadoff walk, Hill hit a triple that drove her in to end the game.
Nocona won 16-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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